The story of the Stone of Scone

It looks like a slab of unremarkable rock: a small suitcase-sized block of pink sandstone with a roughly incised cross. But the Stone of Scone (pronounced to rhyme with spoon)—also known as the Stone of Destiny—is the coronation stone on which Charles III will be crowned in May.

The Stone of Scone, also known as the Stone of Destiny. Credit: Edinburghcastle.scot

It also has two iron rings fitted at each end—perhaps to make the stone easier to move or chain it in place? No one is certain. And that’s just one of the many mysteries surrounding the ancient symbol of Sovereignty, stolen from Scotland by King Edward I, with links to Ireland, Spain and even the Bible.

According to legend it was the pillow used by Jacob, father of the Israelites when he dreamed of a ladder reaching to heaven. One of his sons then took it to Egypt. From there it was taken to Spain and Ireland when the Spanish king's son, Simon Brech, invaded the island in 700BC. 

“There it was placed on the sacred Hill of Tara near Skryne in County Meath,” said Dr David Hume, an Ulster Scots historian, journalist and broadcaster “and named the Lia-Fail, or ‘speaking stone’, because it was said to groan aloud if the claimant was of royal race but remained silent if he was a pretender”.

By around AD496 the stone was in the possession of King Fergus Mór mac Eirc—the King of Dál Riada, an ancient Kingdom, which spanned the Irish Sea and covered large parts of Argyll in Scotland and County Antrim in Northern Ireland. Fergus is said to have taken the stone with him when he moved his royal seat to Dunnadd in Argyll in AD498.

Fast-forward almost 350 years and Kenneth I united the Scots and Pictish kingdoms and became the first King of Scotland. He moved the capital to Scone and the stone with it to the—now ruined—Abbey from which it takes its name.

The Stone of Scone was housed in a Coronation Chair by England's King Edward I. Credit: historicenvironment.scot

Disappointingly, at least from the point of view of romantic myth, geologists have demonstrated that the stone was quarried in the vicinity of Scone rather than in biblical Judea. It’s likely that a more ancient stone was used to crown the Kings of Ireland and brought to Scotland but replaced at some point.

But its use and significance remained the same. It was the seat used in the coronation ceremonies of Scottish monarchs and symbolised their power. But following his victory over the Scots at the Battle of Dunbar in 1296, England’s King Edward I (Edward the Confessor) seized the stone and brought it to England, housing it in a specially constructed Coronation Chair. All English—and later British—monarchs have been crowned on it ever since.

That said, there is a rumour that the monks at Scone Palace actually hid the real stone in the River Tay and tricked the English troops into taking a substitute. If they did, no one has ever found it.

Still, the rock has remained a stone of contention and its rightful ownership contested down the generations.

In 1950, the Scottish nationalists dislodged it from the Coronation Chair and brought it back to Scotland in the trunk of a car, breaking it in two as they did (it’s believed the split was down to an earlier incident in 1914 when suffragettes detonated a bomb beneath the chair). Four months later, the repaired stone was discovered draped in a Scottish national flag on the high altar of the ruined Arbroath Abbey—a symbol of Scottish independence.

It was a spectacular stunt. The students were never charged and although the stone was returned to Westminster Abbey, it wasn’t the end of the story. 

In 1996, British Prime Minister John Major tried unsuccessfully to muffle a growing clamor for Scottish independence by announcing the stone would be returned to Scotland on the condition it would be made available for future coronations.

And that’s where it’s been, housed in Edinburgh Castle alongside the Scottish Crown Jewels.

The Stone of Scone was returned to Scotland on St Andrews Day in 1996. Credit: historicenvironment.scot

When the Stone was returned to Scotland in 1996, the process of removing it from the Coronation Chair required great care to ensure both were protected throughout," explained Kathy Richmond, head of Collections and Applied Conservation at Historic Environment Scotland.

A specially constructed winch was used to lift it from the platform of the chair, which has remained empty ever since.

Preparations are being made for its return but whether it will or not still remains to be seen. On March 6, former Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond suggested the move should be blocked and that Scotland’s next First Minister should refuse to return the Stone of Destiny to England for the King’s coronation.

It’s the latest twist in the story of an object the origins and ownership of which are probably more contested than any other stone in history.

Read more: The fascinating history of the crown jewels

Read more: King Charles III: What to expect from his reign

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